Experimental investigation on disintegration characteristics and MICP reinforcement of unsaturated sandy clayey purple soil

Abstract: The sandy clayey purple soil is widely distributed in the middle and upper reaches of the Yangtze River, serving as one of the main soil resources in the mountainous areas of southwest China. Intense physical weathering, loose structure, and low erosion resistance are the main characteristics of sandy clayey purple soil. Therefore, environmental disturbance, such as the water fluctuation near reservoirs, heavy rainfall, and groundwater, often induces soil erosion, landslide, settlement, and water-soil disasters of purple soil. A serious threat has been posed on the village buildings and roads, even the agricultural production. The properties of water immersion disintegration with the sandy clayey purple soil can also be an important reason for water-soil disasters in the southwest mountainous areas. It is necessary to clarify the disintegration characteristics and reinforcement for the water-soil disasters prevention and control. In this study, a disintegration test was performed on the purple soil samples with different initial dry densities, water content, and grain gradation using a self-developed instrument. Meanwhile, the disintegration and evolution of sandy clayey purple soil were also analyzed from the perspective of unsaturated effective stress. Bacillus megaterium was selected to reinforce the soil samples with the Microbial Induced Calcite Precipitation (MICP), which is more suitable for reinforcing sandy clayey purple soil in comparison with Sporosarcina pasteurii. A Scanning Electron Microscope (SEM) was then utilized to characterize the morphologies of the soil sample, thereby determining the MICP improvement on the disintegration characteristics of sandy clayey purple soil. The results show that: 1) Four stages were divided in the whole process of immersion and disintegration of sandy clayey purple soil, including the air-water conversion, equilibrium, disintegration development, and disintegration residual stage. 2) The initial dry density, water content, and grain gradation obviously affected the disintegration characteristics of sandy clayey purple soil. Specifically, the disintegration rate and the average disintegration velocity decreased, with the increase of initial dry density and water content. In addition, the average disintegration velocity of soil increased by the content of fine particles. 3) The evolution of water and air was ranging from the pore water closed, double connected, and pore air closed morphology, with the increasing of the initial saturation. Water was rapidly absorbed into the pores under the matric suction, where the pore pressure was changed significantly. Subsequently, the effective stress of unsaturated soil rapidly reduced to the negative, leading to an interparticle compressive stress (the negative tensile stress). Once the tensile stress reached the value of effective cohesion, the unsaturated strength of purple soil was lost completely. Finally, the soil sample was then destroyed under disintegration. The more severe disintegration was also obtained with the decrease in the initial saturation of a soil sample. The decay process of the unsaturated effective stress depended greatly on the initial saturation after the purple soil was immersed in water. Specifically, the average disintegration velocity attenuated exponentially with the increase of the initial saturation. 4) The disintegration rate and the average disintegration velocity of the MICP treated soil samples decreased by 73 to 97 percentage points and 84%-99%, respectively, compared with the untreated soil. Calcium carbonate crystals formed by solidification and deposition greatly reduced the micro-cracks and large pores in the soil structure. As such, a denser pore structure was achieved to enhance the strength of intergranular cementation for the higher resistance to the disintegration of the soil. Consequently, the MICP technology can serve as an effective measure to prevent the water-soil disasters of the sandy clayey purple soil in southwest mountainous areas.